Kidd-Gilchrist was 21 years old last season, posted a lot of numbers on offense that were easy to overlook and some that weren't (a wing with zero 3-point attempts) --- and missed 27 games to injury, and it changed nothing. The Hornets fell apart when the third-year player was on the sideline, for typical breaks in games or longer stretches of the schedule, all the way to where Charlotte allowed about eight fewer points per 100 possessions with Kidd-Gilchrist on the court compared to Kidd-Gilchrist resting or recovering. The contrast was just as blatant in the standings: 28-29 with MKG, 5-20 without.
Kidd-Gilchrist had become the face of the Hornets' franchise.
So imagine the number of people in the organization needing to breath into a paper bag Monday, after Yahoo Sports reported that Kidd-Gilchrist would miss approximately six months with the dislocated right shoulder suffered in the exhibition opener Saturday in Orlando. Six months. That's April. That's essentially the season.
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Even if Kidd-Gilchrist beats the timeline, he'd have to beat it by a wide margin just to make half of 2015-16. The Hornets made a big investment to get back to the playoffs after the disappointment of last season, trading the potential of Noah Vonleh for the present of Nicolas Batum, knowing it will require a large contract to keep free-agent Batum in summer 2016, and turning away from trade opportunities to draft Frank Kaminsky, knowing he would arrive as one of the most NBA-ready prospects. They matched Clifford's verbal support of Kidd-Gilchrist with the tangible support of a four-year, $52-million extension in August. And then this.
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MKG is everything in Charlotte -- the present and future, a centerpiece of the defense that built the 2014 playoff push, half the projected pairing with Batum that would clamp opponents on the perimeter, the nonstop worker with a high basketball IQ who runs the break and had been one of the few Hornets who can score in transition and deliver easy baskets for a team that struggles mightily on offense. Kidd-Gilchrist had even come to embody an organization making bold changes in an attempt to push to the forefront. They changed their name, back from the Bobcats to the previous incarnation, landed the 2017 All-Star game, got the potential marketing gold mine of two exhibition games in China this preseason. He changed his shot.
